Columbia Room in Washington DC is Derek Brown's Shaw Blagden Alley cocktail destination since 2010, James Beard Outstanding Bar Program winner with a tasting-menu Spirits Library room.
Food program: Cocktail snacks and small plates
Tip: The Tasting Room flight requires a reservation; the Spirits Library walk-up room runs the menu without booking pressure.
Address: 124 Blagden Alley NW, Washington, DC 20001, Washington DC
Service Bar in Washington DC is Glendon and Chad Hartung's U Street cocktail bar since 2016, the city's busiest neighbourhood cocktail room with a James Beard semifinalist program.
Signature drink: Frozen Painkiller
Food: Fried chicken and bar food
Tip: Cash and card both accepted; the frozen Painkiller and fried chicken combo is the bar's calling-card late-night order.
Hawthorne in Washington DC is the 14th Street four-floor cocktail bar and rooftop in Logan Circle from the El Centro group, with a James Beard-nominated bar program and a wraparound roof.
Signature drink: Old Fashioned with house bourbon
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: The roof opens from April to October; the basement Speakeasy below the ground floor takes the same menu year-round.
The Passenger in Washington DC is the Brown brothers' Shaw 7th Street cocktail bar, a beat-up wood-and-tile dive with a strict bartender's-choice menu and the city's loudest karaoke nights.
Signature drink: Bartender's choice
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Walk in and tell the bartender three things you like; the menu is the bartender's read of the room. Cash and card.
Off the Record in Washington DC is the Hay-Adams Hotel basement bar across Lafayette Square from the White House, with political-caricature coasters and the city's most-photographed political bar.
Signature drink: Political-caricature cocktail
Food: Hotel bar snacks
Tip: Steal the caricature coasters; the bartenders expect it. The bar takes hotel-guest seating overflow first.
Round Robin Bar in Washington DC is the Willard InterContinental Hotel's circular Pennsylvania Avenue bar, the bar where Henry Clay introduced the mint julep to DC in the 1850s.
Signature drink: Mint julep (the bar's original)
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Order the original mint julep; the bartender will recite the Clay-1850 introduction story while building it.
Tune Inn in Washington DC is the Capitol Hill Pennsylvania Avenue dive bar since 1947, a four-generation family-owned room with a deer-head wall, the city's longest-running staffer bar.
Signature drink: Bud Light and a shot
Food: Diner-grade American food
Tip: Cash makes the night faster; the diner kitchen runs the same menu past midnight and is the Hill's late-night staple.
